between degeneracy and important biological measurements related to robustness, complexity, and evolvability. These include: Theoretical arguments supported by simulations have proposed that degeneracy can lead to distributed forms of robustness in protein interaction networks. Those authors suggest that similar phenomena is likely to arise in other biological networks and potentially may contribute to the resilience of ecosystems as well. Tononi et al. have found evidence that degeneracy is inseparable from the existence of hierarchical complexity in neural populations. They argue that the link between degeneracy and complexity is likely to be much more general. Fairly abstract simulations have supported the hypothesis that degeneracy fundamentally alters the propensity for a genetic system to access novel heritable phenotypes and that degeneracy could therefore be a precondition for open-ended evolution. The three hypotheses above have been integrated in where they propose that degeneracy plays a central role in the open-ended evolution of biological complexity. In the same article, it was argued that the absence of degeneracy within many designed (abiotic) complex systems may help to explain why robustness appears to be in conflict with flexibility and adaptability, as seen in software, systems engineering, and artificial life. See also Canalisation Equifinality References Further reading Because there are many distinct types of systems that undergo heritable variation and selection (see Universal Darwinism), degeneracy has become a highly interdisciplinary topic. The following provides a brief roadmap to the application and study of degeneracy within different disciplines. Animal Communication Cultural Variation Ecosystems Epigenetics History and philosophy of science Systems biology Evolution Immunology Cohen, I.R., U. Hershberg, and S. Solomon, 2004 Antigen-receptor degeneracy and immunological paradigms. Molecular Immunology, . 40(14–15) pp. 993–996. Tieri, P., G.C. Castellani, D. Remondini, S. Valensin, J. Loroni, S. Salvioli, and C. Franceschi, Capturing degeneracy of the immune system. In Silico Immunology. Springer, 2007. Artificial life, Computational intelligence Andrews, P.S. and J. Timmis, A Computational Model of Degeneracy in a Lymph Node. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2006. 4163: p. 164. Mendao, M., J. Timmis, P.S. Andrews, and M. Davies. The Immune System in Pieces: Computational Lessons from Degeneracy in the Immune System. in Foundations of Computational Intelligence (FOCI). 2007. Whitacre, J.M. and A. Bender. Degenerate neutrality creates evolvable fitness landscapes. in WorldComp-2009. 2009. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Whitacre, J.M., P. Rohlfshagen, X. Yao, and A. Bender. The role of degenerate robustness in the evolvability of multi-agent systems in dynamic environments. in PPSN XI.